Arts at CERN

With a research-based practice drawing from the history of science, philosophy, speculative fiction, and eco-horror, Indian artist Rohini Devasher maps the complexities of ecology, cosmology, and technology.

Beyond the Standard Model is inspired by the Standard Model of particle physics, the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces in the Universe (the electromagnetic force and the weak and strong interactions, excluding gravity) and classifying all known elementary particles.

Developed over fourteen years of collaboration with astronomers across India and shaped by her Connect India dual residency in 2023 at CERN and the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru, the project inhabits the space where artistic intuition meets scientific investigation. Through fieldwork, eclipse chases and sustained dialogue with scientists, Devasher proposes an expanded model of inquiry: one where the tools of art and science intersect to generate new forms of knowledge, imagination and artistic exploration.

‘After many conversations both at ICTS and at CERN, it is clear that the observer takes both human and non-human forms. Depending on what we choose to look at, for instance, quantum entanglement or collider physics, gravitational waves or string theory, it is also a boundary that is not fixed but rather shifting’, says Devasher.

Beyond the Standard Model is a new commission for the CERN Community Support Center in Building 62.